On January 24, the International Day of Education, I had the opportunity to reflect on the kind of education system we need to build the Bangladesh of 2041 with some of the leading educational thinkers of our country.
I am usually asked to comment on digitization. On that day, I commented on more than that.
In March of 2020 when schools were first closed, and with children at home from school, we had to think of the means to bring lessons to them. With guidance from the two ministries of education, we at a2i were at the forefront of repurposing pre-existing platforms and breaking silos to transform the entire education system, which was almost 99% analog, into a 100% digital system within record time.
We did it in a matter of days!
And how?
Because over the past decade, as we became increasingly familiar with digitization of our education system, we developed building blocks that we cobbled together to support this unprecedented move. However, we also knew digitization was not a panacea. As we analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both the physical and digital, it became obvious to us that a blended approach -- where we take the best of both worlds -- is optimal for the future.
On the International Day of Education, I spoke of five aspects from the perspective of a student:
- I am the solution
Our education system must become such that any student can confidently claim to both want to and have the ability to solve the most pressing challenges of our society. It is typically in our nature to pass the buck. When it comes to looking at a problem, we usually think it’s someone else’s problem and that someone else should solve it.
This mentality must not only evolve but also turn 180 degrees. Someone else will not solve the problems. It is only when the education system empowers students to each be problem-solvers will collective societal problems be solved. The belief “I am the solution” must become a core focus of the education system.
- The education that I want
Education systems around the world, since the industrial revolution, continue a “one size fits all” model. In the year 2022 and beyond, with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this can no longer be the model. Education must be delivered based on each and every student’s particular needs and wants.
An indigenous student will have different needs to a student who faces some disability which will be different from a student from a school which lacks good teachers.
And what of interests and passions? If my daughter shows a knack for science, and shows little interest in the arts, while my friend’s daughter is inclined towards sports but cares little for science, does it make sense for them to receive the same education?
- When I need it, not if I need it
Inspired by “just in time education” and “just in case education” as depicted by Professor Sugata Mitra of the University of Newcastle, our students currently learn in the second method, taught a vast array of topics lest they require those at some point in their lives. Memorizing certain historic dates for wars – or, for the sake of argument, the myriad mathematical equations -- is a suitable example.
Sugata Mitra believes -- and I agree with him -- that in the future, we do not need “just in case” education. The internet will be ubiquitously accessible. We will make it so. Information that can be attained through the internet, readily and easily, has no reason to be taught and worse yet, memorized. We must stress on “just in time” education, where a student will have to utilize what they are taught. The learners need to analyze information and synthesize meaning.
And, of course, solve problems of society.
This type of education will also help us to “learn how to learn” as coined by Professor Barbara Oakley and her colleagues.
- I need to be an entrepreneur and an innovator
An entrepreneur is a creator. A thinker. An explorer. A problem solver. An innovator. A risk-taker.
All children have what can be termed as the entrepreneurial spirit. They are curious and exploratory. I won’t go as far as Sir Ken Robinson who argues that schools kill creativity, but I’ll certainly posit that they kill a learner’s entrepreneurship and innovator’s zeal. As a student advances through different levels of education, their entrepreneurial spirit is snuffed out as a result of fear, insecurity, and the added pressures of society.
We regularly see that a class five dropout will consider becoming an entrepreneur over someone with a university degree, who will take the “safer” option of working in a firm. Bangladesh was built upon taking risks and exploring possibilities -- our “uneducated” still do that and propel the nation forward.
Going forward, if we are to succeed in the 21st century as a nation, we must nurture the entrepreneurial vigour and innovation mindset through our education system.
- We ALL learn, not just I learn
Technology has rightfully been called a great enabler but it is also a great divider.
With more and more technology adopted in education, this is also the greatest risk. During the pandemic, some students with “techvantage” have been able to receive classes while some were totally deprived. Bangladesh’s commitment to its students must mirror the goal of the Sustainable Development Goals. It can leave no student behind.
Beyond digital
Technology is changing the way we live and do things at an unprecedented pace. It will increasingly dominate all aspects of life. If we do not design our education system accordingly, it will still change. Only, we shall not be in control of that change. And our Bangladesh of 2041 will not be the one that we envision.
However, if we are the orchestrators and designers of the system, bearing in mind the five elements discussed, we can maximize the benefit to our students, and therefore create the Bangladesh of 2041 that every Bangladeshi dreams of.
I forget who it was that said that we often defend the status quo long past the time the “quo” has lost its status. Our newly established 40+ member-strong Blended Education National Taskforce, spearheaded by the Education Minister and strengthened by the presence of many ministers, secretaries, heads of agencies, and leading education experts, cannot just focus on digitization. It will have to break that status quo.
After all, we want an education system that nourishes the strengths of each of our children and gives each of them wings to solve the problems of society because each of them is empowered, as soon as she enters our education system and rises through it, with the conviction that “I AM THE SOLUTION.”
Anir Chowdhury is a US tech entrepreneur turned Bangladeshi government entrepreneur serving as the Policy Advisor of a2i in ICT Division and Cabinet Division supported by UNDP.
